The long range goals of the proposed research are to identify and characterize proteins that play important roles in the immune response to the pathogenic Mycobacterium species, primarily M. tuberculosis and M. avium complex (MAC) isolated from AIDS patients. These studies should lead to a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the Mycobacterium-caused diseases, as well as generating better reagents for the detection, treatment and prevention of infections caused by mycobacteria. Additionally, it is proposed to identify and characterized novel synthetic compounds for their activity against M. tuberculosis. These studies could afford a better understanding of the efficacy of such products as antimycobacterial agents. The goal will be to identify newly synthesized chemical agents that express primarily bactericidal activity. The specific aims of the proposal are: 1. To characterize the role(s) of the individual proteins in an immune response to mycobacteria. 2. To evaluate the antibodies and antigens generated in these studies for use as immunodiagnostic reagents to detect infections with mycobacteria. 3. To assess novel compounds for in vitro activity against M. tuberculosis. This will include an initial screening of compounds using both standard dilution assays and a new luciferase-based assay, and a detailed evaluation of those compounds identified as active in the initial screening.